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The district town Kutná Hora is situated at an altitude of 273 m on the Vrchlice stream in eastern Central Bohemia. Mining for silver began in 1280 and for centuries shaped the history of the town. During the Middle Ages, Kutná Hora (in German: Kuttenberg) was the largest town of Bohemia and repeatedly was the residence of the Bohemian Kings and the site of royal diets. In 1409, King Wencelav (Václáv, Wenzel) IV issued the Kuttenberg Decree, which resulted in the emigration of German professors and students from the university of Prague and the subsequent foundation of the university of Leipzig. In 1421–1424, Kutná Hora was captured by the Hussites, recaptured by Emperor Sigismund, and captured again and burned by Jan Žižka. Until then a stronghold of Catholicism, it became for two centuries the center of Bohemian Protestantism. The diet of 1485 seeked a compromise between the religious parties in Bohemia. The first printers began to work in Kuttenberg in 1488. Their most famous work is the Kuttenberg Bible of 1489. The city suffered again in the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and lost its importance after the silver mines closed in the 17th century. The historical town centre with the church of St. Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec (Sedletz, today part of Kutná Hora) were listed as a World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO in 1995 (see also list of other UNESCO heritage sites).

The famous church of St. Barbara (chrám sv. Panny Barbory) [right and below] is a masterpiece of Late-Gothic architecture. The church was begun by Peter and Johann Parler in 1388, their followers Matthias Rejsek and Benedikt Ried (Rejt) continued the construction. The church was completed in 1558. After 1626, the church belonged to the Jesuits. In 1905 the cathedral was newly consecrated and since then belongs to the parish and archdecanal office attached to St. James church at Kutná Hora.

The Jesuit college (Jezuitská kolej) [left, no.1728: right] was built in 1667–1700 by the architect Domenico Orsi. The Baroque building was erectde on an F-shaped ground plan to honour Emperor Ferdinand II. The Jesuits had been called into Kutná Hora in 1626 to re-catholicize the then Utraquist town and its surroundings.

The Italian Court (Vlašský dvůr) (Geman: Welscher Hof) [near left, no.2351] was built in the second half of the 13th century as a mint of the Prague Groschen. In the 14th century it was the central mint of the kingdom of Bohemia. Towards the end of the century, the castle was remodeled to become a royal residence. When the mint was moved away in 1724, the castle began to fall into dereliction. The structure was restored only at the end of the 19th century. In 1904, the royal chapel, originally from the Gothic period, was remodeled in Art Nouveau style by František and Marie Urban.